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Archive for the ‘M & M’ Category

This and That

Monday, September 1st, 2008

Where have I been? I have been working in the studio. I finished Urban Sunlight (new name) and I have been playing with a piece I am calling Red Sky. Here is a very preliminary layout that I started with.

I have actually started the quilting on the final design.

I am feeling soooo much better since I stopped walking the stubborn old lady dog, Maggie. And, guess what? She is happier, too. I thought I was doing her a favor – dragging her on those long walks. Here is something else that I acquired yesterday that I am loving and is helping my body feel better, too.

These are BMT shoes. I went to The Walking Store to get new shoes and saw these strange looking and very pricey shoes. They are made to simulate walking barefoot in sand. I think it feels like walking on a trampoline. You cannot lock your knees. You are required to have good posture and you use your muscles more efficiently and put less strain on the joints. I love them. They are pretty funny looking. Here is a LINK if you want to find out more about these shoes.

This is filed under: Show Me Yours and I’ll show You Mine. My friend, Terry, recently posted her collection of Political Buttons she found when packing to move to her new home. I have a collection that has moved to several homes with me. I just added a new Obama button to it and I am waiting form my  Obama/Biden to show up soon. the only Republican button I have is Ike. I think he was the last decent Republican president that we have had. You can see that I have a lot of Bill Clinton buttons. It was the first time I actively worked in a campaign. He greatly disappointed me.

Mr C and I were married on Labor Day Week-end 44 years ago. This year it came so early that our anniversary isn’t until next week-end – Friday to be exact. Steph and Jack are going away for the week-end so M & M are going to take us out to dinner on Friday night.

In light of McCain’s VP pick, I have been amusing myself coming up with his cabinet, should he get elected (not). Attorney General: Judge Judy; Secretary of State: the very well traveled Paris Hilton – she must know a lot about the world, she is namd after a foreign city! Secretary of Interior – Martha Stewart. Help me finish this!!

Another Busy Wednesday

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

First, here is the gratuitous cute puppy and grandchild photo. Mia and MIles were taunting Wilfredo with their brown rice cakes through the front door window.

That was yesterday. After everyone left, yesterday, I started another piece for the SAQA auction. The first piece I did had to be trashed.  I managed to save the hand stitched area which I stitched to a new background. I used some of my new Elin Noble Perle cotton and added some other embellishments. It is still called Copper Highlights. I have to overnight it to its destination tomorrow. But, I was determined to participate this year and whew, I will make it.

Here is a detail:

We are closing in on finishing the bathroom. Most of the lights were installed today. The granite was installed yesterday. My mirrored door over the sink had to be redone as the mirror cracked when he was adding the pull. Vladimir needs to finish some tile trim. Supposedly, everyone is coming back on Monday to finish everything. I will believe it when I see it!! Anyway, I will reserve taking any more photos until everything is finished. We were excited to get lights and power. The room looks heavenly bathed in light.

Lisa has been busy today visiting friends. We still haven’t started our machine quilting lessons — that is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon after she and Steph take the kids berry picking on Sauvie Island.

Accomplishments

Friday, July 18th, 2008

Sometimes, I get to the end of a day, and I think I have not accomplished much of anything. I try to think back over the day — what did I do? Today, was one of those days. After breakfast, coffee, the newspaper and some blog reading, I prepared Indigo Construction for the trip to the APNQ show. I had a sleeve, but not the legal type of label. Once the label was done, I had to cover it with muslin for the judging – ugh – I don’t like to have my work picked apart by judges. I then prepared it for the FedEx shipping tube, printed out the shipping label and Mr C took it off to the shipping store.

I also washed all my silk fabric and hung it to air dry. This is all going to Coupeville with me. There is organza, habotai, charmeuse, peau de soie and noil. I also have some charmeuse and chiffon scarves.

After a nice walk with Maggie and lunch, I worked a bit on my Illumination challenge for the 12 X 12 group. Here is a sneak peak.

Then it was off to do some shopping for supplies for the trip and some bread and peaches for family dinner tonight. M & M were at day camp this week and I missed my day with them. They had a wonderful time in the great out-of -doors. They didn’t want it to end. He had wild berry juice on his cheeks. I wanted to photograph him. This is what I got:

We had a nice dinner of grilled chicken (marinated in zin, olive oil, dijon mustard, garlic and thyme), roasted new potatoes, grilled zucchini, caprese salad with heirlooms tomatoes, bread and ice cream with peaches and balsamic syrup. There was a nice bottle of Alderbrook zin as an accompaniment.

Now, we are watching Sweeney Todd — a bloody good movie! I love the music, anyway. I can watch Johnny Depp do just about anything. Speaking of movies, we saw Wall-E the other night and loved it.

So, I guess that I did accomplish some things today. I leave you with the lovely table of Mediterranean barley salad that Terry served us yesterday at the STASH meeting. Delicious.

Stars and Stripes

Friday, July 4th, 2008

Lemon Cupcakes

Served with berries, vanilla ice cream and a star candle.

As Colbert would say, Happy Birthday, Nation!

Life is Good

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

My regime of stretches, icing the bum, ibuprofen and short walks seems to be working. Last night, I was not awakened by pain in my leg, but by a horrendous clap of thunder. I went back to sleep, ignoring the storm, and felt refreshed from my first good night’s sleep in some time. Mr doc ordered vicodin for me, but I don’t think I will even pick it up.

Look at who else is feeling much better. She is checking out the bathroom reno with me, after the tile man left for the day. She is still on antibiotics and pain meds, but she is returning to her normal self. We went for a short walk this afternoon and she was leading the way.

The first coat of paint is on the wall. In that right hand corner will be one of our custom built storage units. Behind Maggie, there will be another built in with drawers below and shelves above and a beautiful granite counter.

Here is another view of the extra large subway tile and the floor. No grouting has been done and there is some tape holding the tile in place. The sinks will go on the wall on the left and the shower is on the right, out of site. The shower pan will be installed on Monday, and then they will start on the mosaic that I designed.

This morning, Stephanie dropped off two of my fave people in the world. Here they are having lunch on the deck.

In the morning, we went to the Dollar Tree. I needed to buy some storage bins for my art tools.

Miles bought some pirate stuff. There is a ring on his other ear. He looks quite fierce. Mia bought colored pens, pencils and another journal – what else.

And, we bought every kind of bubble paraphernalia you can imagine.

And so, the annual bubble fest ensued.

Where did all the bubbles go?

Poor Maggie. There is nothing she loves more than chasing bubbles and jumping in the air and popping them. I made her stay in the house because I didn’t think it was a good activity so soon after her oral surgery. JR’s do not know their limitations, so I had to play the alpha dog.

Tonight, we had dinner at Burgerville. Everyone ate every thing on their plates. After dinner, Mia and I watched the Ace of Cakes on the Food Network — one of her favorite shows. Miles and Mr C started building the Great Lego Wall on the front porch.

Tomorrow, the Portland Clan will gather for a BBQ and then watch fireworks.

Happy Fourth of July!